Keighley Cougars 16, Batley Bulldogs 32: The dazzling display that destroyed Sheffield last week was sadly not repeated as the Cougars caved in.

An extra 400 spectators turned out for the match, but were disappointed with the lacklustre display from the home side.

Bizarre and frustrating refereeing from Huddersfield's Steve Addy did little to help the game as a spectacle as the Bulldogs grabbed a straightforward

victory.

"We let ourselves down badly," said coach Gary Moorby, visibly disappointed by the defeat.

"If we had played like we did last week then we could have won. Inexperience reared its head again - we made silly, unforced errors.

"The spectators deserved better. We now have next week's home game against Hull KR in which to put it right."

Things started brightly enough, with last week's man of the match Danny Fearon recovering from a night of sickness to score after just three minutes.

And with former Bull Glen Tomlinson sin-binned for flattening Matti Firth after unleashing a bomb, it looked like the Cougars could rampage to another win.

But with a successfully converted penalty already under their belts, the Bulldogs' Roger Simpson - another former Bull - ran in a disappointingly soft try after 19 minutes. And then it was all Batley.

Clearly missing the suspended Oliver Wilkes, the Cougars lacked bite in the tackle and invention going forward.

And it was a fatigued-looking Keighley who conceded again just before the break, with full back Craig Lingard romping home.

Ollie Marns grabbed his third try in three games after good work from man of the match Simeon Hoyle, leaving a half-time score of 14-10 to Batley.

The first score after the break was always going to be vital, and it went to former Cougar Paul Harrison. He bundled through after just 41 minutes and, despite a Karl Smith effort in the corner, it was a relatively one-sided march to the end for the Bulldogs.

Whistle-happy Addy continued to spoil the match as it descended into a niggly and bitty encounter.

The sin-bin was not employed often enough as Lingard and Simpson both went over again before Ryan Horsley drove home the final nail with a 66th-minute try.

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